Jon Alex Davidson

Chief Inspirational Officer

Jon Alex Davidson is the reason Rising Above Ministries exists. The ministry was birthed by his parents, Jeff and Becky Davidson, through their own experiences raising a son with profound special needs.

Despite cerebral palsy, autism, epileptic seizures, and being non-verbal, Jon Alex has become the inspiration, motivation, and biggest blessing the Davidsons ever could have imagined. Through Jon Alex, God captured the Davidson’s heart for their fellow special-needs families and called them to be allies and supporters of the special-needs community.

Becky Davidson

Co-Founder & President

Becky and her late husband, Jeff, co-founded Rising Above Ministries in 2005. They were inspired by the life of their son, Jon Alex and motivated by the realization of how underserved the special-needs community truly is. Becky considers it her joy and honor to be raising Jon Alex despite his challenges and trials. She has a passion for supporting and encouraging moms of children with special needs and developing ministries for the whole family.

Since Jeff’s passing in 2017, Becky has taken on the role as president of Rising Above, casting vision and leading the ministry into an amazing new season. Becky’s story is featured in the book Your Life Still Counts by Tracie Miles of Proverbs 31 Ministries. Becky also shares her heart in her book co-written with her late husband, Jeff, Common Man, Extraordinary Call: Thriving as the Dad of a Child with Special Needs (available at Amazon, Lifeway, and Walmart.com). Becky speaks passionately as someone who “gets it” because of her own experience as a special needs mom.

Becky’s story is featured in Tim Tebow’s latest book, Mission Possible.

Steve Chatman

Vice President of Ministry Advancement & Pastoral Care

Steve is married to Lori Ann and they have 5 children and 3 grandkids. Steve has been ministering to families since 1993 and he loves to teach, counsel, encourage, entertain, and resource others. Before joining the staff at Rising Above, Steve and his wife Lori were active participants and volunteers with us for many years. As a dad to children with special needs (Steve and Lori have two daughters with Down Syndrome), he has a huge heart for the special needs community. As VP for Ministry Advancement and Pastoral Care, Steve oversees our ministry to families as well as connecting with the local church and community organizations to help them better engage and serve the special needs community.

In his spare time, he enjoys taking naps, watching movies with his family, eating donuts at the beach (or anywhere), playing fantasy football, and he hopes to one day play the banjo.

Carrissa Mackie

Director of Operations

Carrissa is married and together they have two boys together. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family & dogs, hiking, swimming and just being outside with her boys!

As the director of operations, Carrissa oversees the day-to-day operations of the ministry & does most of our event planning. Feel free to reach out by emailing her at cmackie@risingaboveministries.org.

Deanna Hammond

Media & Marketing Manager

DeAnna is our Media & Marketing Manager. She is using her creativity to run all our social media platforms as well as our print media. We are so blessed to have her on our team!

DeAnna graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Communications. She is married to Andy and they have four children. For fun, she likes to go hiking with her family and serve in her church. She is most excited about working with Rising Above to encourage the special needs community and share their stories.